Published on ShanghaiDaily.com (http://www.shanghaidaily.com/)
http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2008/200812/20081215/article_384534.htm
The Royal Navy frigate HMS Northumberland leaves Mombasa, Kenya, yesterday to escort ships carrying aid under the World Food Program to Somalia where pirates have turned the seas into a high-risk zone.
Somalia's president sacks PM
Created: 2008-12-15 1:14:25
SOMALIA'S president fired the prime minister yesterday, saying he failed to bring security to a nation struggling with a violent insurgency and political turmoil.
President Abdullahi Yusuf announced the decision in Baidoa, one of the few towns the government still controls, now that militants have taken over most of the country.
"The government has been paralyzed by corruption, inefficiency and treason," Yusuf said, adding that he will name a new prime minister in three days.
Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew the government and then turned on one another. Thousands of civilians have been killed since early 2007, when militants began a brutal insurgency.
Prime Minister Nur Hassan Husseinsaid in Mogadishu that he will challenge the move. The president needs parliament's approval to remove the prime minister, but Yusuf said that legally there is no government in place anyway because two-thirds of ministers have already resigned.
"The president was speaking in his usual personal capacity, which is always contrary to the country's existing rules and regulations," Hussein said.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the violence surrounding the insurgency, with thousands killed or maimed. The United Nations says there are around 300,000 acutely malnourished children in Somalia.
The lawlessness, meanwhile, has allowed piracy to flourish off the coast, with bandits taking in about US$30 million in ransoms this year alone. Somalia has urged the United Nations to send a peacekeeping force.
President Abdullahi Yusuf announced the decision in Baidoa, one of the few towns the government still controls, now that militants have taken over most of the country.
"The government has been paralyzed by corruption, inefficiency and treason," Yusuf said, adding that he will name a new prime minister in three days.
Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991, when warlords overthrew the government and then turned on one another. Thousands of civilians have been killed since early 2007, when militants began a brutal insurgency.
Prime Minister Nur Hassan Husseinsaid in Mogadishu that he will challenge the move. The president needs parliament's approval to remove the prime minister, but Yusuf said that legally there is no government in place anyway because two-thirds of ministers have already resigned.
"The president was speaking in his usual personal capacity, which is always contrary to the country's existing rules and regulations," Hussein said.
Civilians have borne the brunt of the violence surrounding the insurgency, with thousands killed or maimed. The United Nations says there are around 300,000 acutely malnourished children in Somalia.
The lawlessness, meanwhile, has allowed piracy to flourish off the coast, with bandits taking in about US$30 million in ransoms this year alone. Somalia has urged the United Nations to send a peacekeeping force.
Agencies
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